Hinge



Aug. 11, 1936.

G. F. MAISCH HINGE Filed Sept. 11,' 1934 Invarwcor: Gustave F'. by 7? Misch \mmllll H is Attorney.

Patented Aug. 11, 1936 mesne assients, to Edison Ge Electric ApplianceCompany, lne., a corporation" of New York Application September ii,193%,

7 Claims.

This invention relates to hinges, and it has for its object theprovision of an improved device of this character.

This invention, while it has various applications, is particularlyuseful to connect together members which normally are biased to onerelative position, but which are movable to another or other relativepositions, wherein it is desired to hold the members against the forceof the biasing means. For example, this invention is particularlyapplicable to dishwashing apparatus wherein there is provided a vathaving a cover normally resting in a horizontal closed position to whichit is biased by means of its weight, and which must be elevated to anopen position to provide for the insertion of soiled dishes into the vatand for the removal of the dishes from the vat after they have beencleansed. oftentimes, apparatus of this character is placed within akitchen in such a position that an overhanging ledge of a window sill orother obstruction prevents movement of the cover from its closedposition to a position back of its perpendicular or upright position,with the result that it is necessary for the attendant to prop the coveropen with an auxiliary device, or to hold it open manually while loadingor unloading the vat. Both of these operations are troublesome,especially the latter, as the covers usually have considerable weight.

This invention has as one of its objects the provision of an improvedhinge structure, which will function to hold the cover in its openposition after it has been moved to this position by the attendant. Itis a further object of this invention to provide a suitable hingestructure, which when the cover is moved to its closed position willrelease the cover sufficiently to permit it to adjust itself to itsnatural closed position.

In accordance with this invention, the hinge comprises cooperatingrelatively movable interconnected hinge members which are arranged toconnect the relatively movable members together; thus, in the case of adishwasher the hinge members function to connect the cover to the vat.The cooperating hinge members are provided with friction surfaces whichare arranged to be moved into frictional engagement with each other,together with means that is operated responsively to the movement of thecover to its openposition to move the surfaces together to generate africtional force between the surfaces suihcient to hold the cover in itsopen position. The hinge is further so arranged (Q3. Id -3.41%)

that when the cover is moved from its open to its closed position, thefrictional force will be reduced, or substantially completely removed sothat the attendant will have no dimculty in re turning the cover to itsclosed position. Suitable means are provided for adjusting the hingestructure whereby the frictional surfaces can be moved together withmore or less force depending upon the adjustment, whereby the cover canbe held in various open positions at an angle to the vertical.

For a more complete understanding of this invention, reference should behad to the accompanying drawing inwhich Fig. l is a fragmentaryelevation of dishwashing apparatus provided with hinges arranged inaccordance with this invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of ahinge arranged in accordance with this invention and used in the washingoperations of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken throughthe line 22 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken throughthe line H of Fig. 3 and looking in the direction of the arrows; andFig. 5 is an expanded perspective view illustrating the various elementsof the hinge shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Referring to the drawing, this invention has been shown as applied to ahinge which is employed to connect the cover to the vat of a dishwashingmachine, although it is to be understood that the hinge has generalapplication. As shown in Fig. 1, the vat I is provided with a cover I04which normally rests in a horizontal closed position, but which ismovable to elevated open positions. The cover Illa. is secured to thevat l0 by means of a pair of hinges H, which are arranged in accordancewith this invention, and which have the same construction.

As shown in Figs. 25 inclusive, each hinge comprises a hinge lug I2which is provided with upright-arms It secured to a base M. It will beobserved that the arms l8 are formed integrally with the base It andthat the arms together with the base have a U-shape. The hinge lug I2 isrigidly secured to the upper wall "lb of the vat In by means of astudl5, which is passed through an aperture l6 provided for it in the baseId. The stud i is also passed through an aperture provided for it in theupper wall of the vat, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4. On the lowerend of the stud is threaded a nut H which is threaded upon the stud soas to rigidly secure the hinge lug I! to the vat.

Cooperating with the hinge lug I2 is a hinge lug I8, which, is providedwith a pair of arms I9 arranged relatively close to the arms l3respectively of the lug l2. In the specific form of this inventionillustrated, the arms H! are positioned on the outside of the arms |3,as clearly shown Illa. Nuts 22 are threaded upon the studs so as torigidly clamp the lug I8 to the cover. Pref- 'erably, the lug l8 will beprovided with a hood or cover 23 between the arms l9, and whichpreferably will be formed integrally with the arms and with the plate20. This cover conceals the mechanism of the hinge.

'It will be observed that the arms l3 and i9 have considerable areas. Itis contemplated that when the cover Illa is. elevated to an openposition, the adjacent surfaces of these arms will be moved together sothat frictional forces will be generated between them suflicient to.hold the cover in its open position. For this purpose, a pair of studs24 are mounted upon the arms l9 of the lug l8. As shown, these studs 24are projected inwardly through apertures 25 provided for them in thearms l9 and through apertures 26 provided for them in the upright armsl3 of the lug l2. The apertures 25 in the arms l9 are given a square orother suitable non-circular cross-section, and the studs are providedwith portions 21 adjacent the heads of the studs having correspondingcross-sections so that relative rotary movement between the studs 24 andthe arms I9 is prevented.

Threaded upon the inner-ends of the studs 24 are nuts 28 which arearranged to be turned inwardly on the studs so as to clamp the arms l3and I9 together when the cover la is opened.

In order to cause the nuts 28 to thus move inwardly, suitable means areprovided for preventing rotary motion of the nuts 28 relative to thehinge lug l2. For this purpose, a rotary member 29 is provided. Thismember, as shown, is provided with sockets 30 arranged to receive thenuts so as to prevent relative rotary motion between the nuts and themember 29, but permitting limited relative longitudinal movement betweenthese members. As shown,.the nuts 28 have a hexagonal form and thesockets aregiven a corresponding shape so as to prevent rotary movementbetween the sockets and the nuts.

' Suitable means are provided for normally preventing rotary motion ofthe member 29 relative to the lug l2, but'at the same time providingmeans for adjusting this member on its axis relative to the lug l2. Thismeans comprises an adjusting screw 3| which meshes with a worm thread 32provided on the member 29 between the two sockets 38, as clearly shownin Figs. 4 and 5. The adjusting screw 3| is carried by a U-shapedbracket 33, the legs of which straddle the worm portion 32 of the member29, as shown clearly in Fig. 3, and which in its lower ends is providedwith a pair of apertures 34 and 35 positioned below the worm 32 andwhich function to rotatably mount the adjusting screw 3|, below the wormin meshed relation with it, as clearly shown, in Fig. 3. The U-shapedbracket 33 is prevented from rotating on the axis of the member 29 bymeans of a head 36 arranged on the upper end of the stud I5 so as to bepositioned between the lower ends of the legs of the U-shaped bracket,as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4. It will be observed that the Psitions of the nuts 28 on the studs'24 can be varied byadjusting theposition of the member 29 by turning the screw 3|.

It will be understood in view of the foregoing description, that whenthe cover Illa is elevated, 6 the nuts 28 will be moved outwardly tocause the arms I3 and I9 to move together, and that the nuts will havebeen positioned initially upon their studs 24 so that when the cover isopened, the frictional forces generated between the arms 10 'will besufficient to hold the cover in its open position. The arms aresufficiently flexible to permit the nuts to move them together.

It will also be understood that the magnitude of these frictional forceswill depend upon the 'l5' initial adjustment of the nuts 28 by the screw3|. The adjustment given the nuts will depend upon the angle the coverIlla has in its open position.

If the cover be nearly vertical when open, the frictional forcesbetween'the arms l3 and I9 20 need not be so great as is necessary tosupport the cover in an open position at a considerable angle to thevertical. If the screw 3| is adjusted to move the nuts 28 inwardly onthe studs 24 so as to provide an initial frictional force between 25 thearms I3 and I9, this force will be correspondinglyincreased when thecover is elevated so that the cover can be supported at a considerableangle to the perpendicular. On the contrary, if the nuts 28 are movedoutwardly on their studs 30 by the screw 3|, the frictional forcesgenerated between the arms l3 and I9 when the cover is moved to its openposition will be reduced so that the cover cannot be supported at suchagreat angle to the vertical. Any suitable fric- 35 tional force betweenthe arms l3 and I9 may be obtained within a wide range by adjusting thethe lug l2 will be elongatedin the vertical direction, as viewed inFigs. 3, 4 and 5, so. that the 50 hinge lugs l2 and H! can moverelatively to each other sufliciently to permit the cover Illa to adjustitself to its normal closed position. 1

Another feature of thisinvention is the provision of suitable means inthe hinge structure for venting the dish-washing vat. For this purpose,the'flat-plate portion 20 of each hinge lug I8 is provided with arelatively large aperture 31 which registers with a similar aperture 38arranged below it in the cover Illa, as shown in 60 Fig. 3. The aperture31 is covered by means of a suitable casing 39 secured to the hingemember by means of tongues 40 provided on. the casing and received inapertures or slits 4| provided for them in the hinge lug, as clearly 5shown in Figs. 3 and 5. This casing member 39 is provided in its sideswith elongated apertures 42. Preferably, a suitable bafile or deflecto'r43 will be provided below the aperture 38 provided in the cover toprevent the flow of 70 water or cleansing fluid outwardly through thehinge. While this invention has been shown as applied to the cover ofdishwashing apparatus, it is to be understood that it has generalapplica- 1 tion. For example, it may be used to hinge a door to itscasing, and it is particularly useful in this application where it isdesired that the door be positively held in its open position.

While I have shown a particular embodiment ofmy invention, it will beunderstood, of course.

. that I do not wish to be limited thereto since many modifications maybe made. and I, therefore; contemplate by the appended claims to coverany such modifications as fall within the true spirit andscope of myinvention.-

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

l. A hinge structure comprising a plurality of relatively movablemembers, friction members associated with said movable membersrespectively arranged to engage each other, and means operatedresponsively to relative movement between said members controlling themagnitude of the frictional force between said friction members so thatwhen said movable members are moved from one predetermined relativeposi-' tion to another-said frictional force gradually increases to arelatively large holding value, and is substantially relieved when saidmembers are returned to said one relative position.

2. A hinge structure comprising a pair of pivotally interconnectedrelatively movable members provided with relatively large substantiallyparallel flexible surfaces arranged to frictionally bear on each other,and means for moving said flexible surfaces together to generate africtional force of increasing magnitude between them responsively torelative pivotal movement of said members in one direction from onerelative position to another, and for substantially relieving saidfrictional force responsivelyto relative pivotal movement of saidmembers in the opposite direction from said other tosaid one relativeposition.

3. A hinge structure comprising a pair of hinge lugs having cooperatingflexible members arranged to frictionally engage each other,meanspivotally connecting said hinge lugs together, means responsive torelative movement of said lugs in one direction forcing said flexiblemembers into frictionalengagement with each other to generate africtional holding force be- A tween them and substantially relievingsaid force when said lugs are moved relatively in the oppositedirection. g

4. A hinge structure comprising a pair of hinge lugs having flexiblemetallic members provided with cooperating plain surfaces arranged to bemoved into frictional engagement with each other, threaded memberssecured to said flexible members on one of said lugs, nuts on saidthreaded members arranged to be moved thereon to force said flexiblemembers together, and means preventing relative rotary motion betweensaid nuts and said other of said lugs so that" when said lugs are movedrelative to each other in a predetermined direction, said nuts areoperated to move said surfaces together into frictional engagement witheach other.

5. A hinge structure comprising a hinge lug, a second hinge lug, saidlugs having flexible metallic members provided with cooperating plainsurfaces arranged to be moved into frictional engagement with eachother, threaded studs secured to said flexible members on one of saidlugs, nuts threadedon said studs adjacent said cooperating flexiblemembers arranged 5 to be moved on said studs to force said surfacestogether, means preventing relative rotary motion between said nuts andthe other of said lugs so that when said lugs are moved relative to eachother said nuts are operated to'move said surfaces together intofrictional engagement with each other, and means for rotating said nutsrelative to said other lug to vary the frictional force between saidmembers when said member is elevated. I

6. A hinge structure comprising a hinge lug having a pair of uprightflexible arms, a second hinge lug having a pair of flexible armspositioned outside of and relatively close to said upright armsrespectively of said first lug, studs 20 mounted on the arms of saidsecond lug and projected inwardly through apertures in the arms of saidfirst lug, means preventing relative rotary movement between said studsand said arms of said second lug. nuts on said studs, a rotary 25 memberpositioned on the axis of said studs provided with sockets arranged toreceive said nuts so as to prevent relative rotary movement between saidnuts and said rotary member, but

providing for limited relative longitudinai'movement between said nutsand said member, and means securing said rotary member from movingrelative tosaid first lug so that when said lugs are moved relative toeach other said nuts are threaded outwardly on said studs to force 35said flexible arms into frictional engagement with each other, saidmeans comprising a worm on said rotary member, a screw meshing with saidworm, and means securing said screw to said first lug to normallyprevent relative rotary 40 movement of said rotary member on the axis ofsaid studs relative to said first lug, said screw being adjustable tovary the position of said rotary member on said axis.

7. A hinge structure comprising a hinge lug 45 having a pair of uprightflexible arms, a second hinge lug imving. a pair of flexible armspositioned' relatively close to the upright arms of said first lug,studs carried by said flexible arms of said second lug passing throughapertures 50 provided for them in said upright arms, means preventingrelative rotary motion of said studs rotary motion of said nuts relativeto said upright arms so that when said lugs are moved relative to eachother in one direction. said 60 nuts are moved on said studs to movesaid armsinto frictional engagement, and for rel i; said arms to reducethe frictional force between them when said lugs are moved in theopposite direction, the apertures in said upright arms 65 beingelongated vertically to provide for limited relative vertical movementbetween said lugs. I GUSTAVE F.

